Fidget spinner safety fears as gadgets sent for tests by Trading Standards

Trading Standards sent a haul of fidget spinner toys for testing last week following concerns over their safety.

Officers visited shops, wholesalers and importers throughout Scotland making test purchases so the spinners could be checked under stringent laboratory conditions.

They also asked some businesses to voluntarily remove the must-have gadgets from sale.

The devices, which kids twirl between their fingers, are classed as toys and must carry a CE safety mark.

But some batches have been imported from China and may be defective. They contain small parts and some light-up versions of the toys are powered by button batteries which can cause internal burn injuries if ingested.

Alison Aitken of Scientific Services at Glasgow City Council with fidget spinners(Photo: Daily Record)

Some of the spinners under examination at Glasgow City Council(Photo: Daily Record)

“A large number and a large variety of brands are currently under test across the country.

“There’s a huge surge of enthusiasm for the products which we class as toys.

“As such, they should bear the CE mark and carry details of the importer into the EU, who must hold the relevant technical documentation to say that these have been tested and conform to the relevant toy safety standards under EN71.”

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The term fidget spinner is not a trade mark, it’s the generic name for the gadget, so there are lots of versions made by
different manufacturers, many of which are in China.

They range in price from £1 to £60.

Fidget spinners are in demand(Photo: Getty)

Scientific Services at Glasgow City Council were carrying out laboratory tests on batches of spinners last week. Neil Coltart, head of Glasgow Trading Standards, said: “From what we have looked at so far, there is a labelling issue in that a lot of the toys are not CE marked.

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“They are not labelled as being unsuitable for under-threes and do not have the appropriate battery warnings alerting the user to the dangers.

“If swallowed, the button cell in the toys can sit in the stomach and react with the acid and quickly cause nasty burns.”

We told last week how Scotland’s largest first aid charity were warning parents about the toys.

St Andrew’s First Aid raised the alarm after reports of a child in the US choking on a disc from one of the gadgets and requiring surgery to remove it.